Vibrissal Location Coding

Abstract

Vibrissal location coding refers to the ways by which the location of external objects is coded (represented) in the vibrissal system of rodents. The vibrissal system contains the vibrissae (whiskers) and the follicles, neurons and muscles associated with them. Coding is traditionally sub-categorized to encoding, i.e., coding at the whisker-object interaction phase, and recoding, i.e., coding at processing stages that are remote from this direct interaction. The vibrissal system is an active-sensing system—the system acquires information about objects in its environment by moving its whiskers (“whisking”, see Vibrissal behavior and function, Whisking kinematics) and interpreting the resulting sensations (Figure 1). In recent years, this system has attracted interest from researchers that study the emergence of perception from motor-sensory interactions and from engineers who regard whisking as a useful model system for developing robotic touch platforms, such as whiskered robots. This article reviews recent progress and our current understanding of vibrissal object location coding in rodents. Open image in new window Figure 1 Whisking behavior of freely-moving rats during two different tasks. Left and right C2 whiskers denoted in red and green, respectively. Top: Rhythmic whisking during whisking in air. Bottom: Whisking during an object localization task. Contact periods denoted by thick lines